1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an optical pick-up device for input and output of information recorded in an optical record medium such as an optical disk; and an electric appliance using the optical pick-up device.
2. Related Art
An optical pick-up device for reading out information recorded in an optical record medium that records information such as music, movie, or the like is used for various electric appliances such as a computer.
An optical pick-up device emits a laser beam to a recording surface of an optical record medium. As a laser beam scans the recording surface, information is read out sequentially by receiving a reflected light from the record medium by a detector. An optical pick-up device is known as the one that is composed of a base incorporated with discrete components such as a semiconductor laser, a prism, a mirror, an objective lens, a photoelectric conversion element, and the like. For example, refer to Unexamined Patent Publication No. 11-16197 (U.S. Pat. No. 6,246,644).
However, the conventional optical pick-up device is a high-precision processing product that is completed by assembling dozens of or hundreds of components. As mentioned above, since a plurality of components is incorporated thereto, the conventional optical pick-up device has a limitation of miniaturization. Accordingly, electric appliances installed with the conventional optical pick-up device are subject to restrictions in being miniaturized and lightweight. For example, a reproduction device of an optical record medium is often separately sold from the main body of a laptop computer which has the selling point of thin and weight-saving.